Do any of you ladies recall the event/s or change in thinking that led you to finally go natural?

For me it was seeing my sister go natural. We were teenagers and both of us had had relaxed hair up until that point. I didn't have the guts to get off the creamy crack by myself but she did and I was just shocked at how amazing and healthy her natural hair looked as it grew out (a STUNNING mane of 4a curls w/a little 3c tossed in). She had the best coils/curls I'd ever seen in my life (up until that point) and envy wasn't a strong enough word for how I felt about it. She wore it with such confidence too, in a straight-haired world. I'll never forget that.

Taren916 and Spelman College in the fall. I knew I had curly hair and when I leave the person I trust to do my hair will be here. Right before my junior year I put the flat iron down and started learning my hair. Now 3 weeks before I am to leave home I know what my hair likes and what I have to do to keep it up

There was never a what that inspired me, it was a who. My future sister in law was natural and she was so cute and stylish with her 'fro. Prior to meeting her, it never occurred to me not to straighten my hair/get a relaxer. It was like "are we allowed to do that?". Even though I figured out I could go natural I still debated about it during my 8 month transition (it didn't help that my father and my brother tried to discourage me, luckily I'm a grown woman and I ignored them). I plugged into Youtube towards the end of my transition and five years later, I haven't looked back.

I just got tired of keeping up with relaxers, when I already had naturally wavy hair that didn't take to relaxers well anyways. Also, got tired of waking up an hour early flat ironing and seeing my hair sizzle.

After that, 3 years later, I'm enjoying my third BC , and my TWA. And being able to express myself healthily and uniquely .

I went natural because I had to. When my hair started falling out the doc said no more chemicals. Before that it had never crossed my mind. It was ingrained in me since childhood that this is what I am supposed to do. I remember throwing up often as a kid from the chemical smell and my mom telling me "women have to suffer to be beautiful". Now I know I can be beautiful and not suffer from burns and nausea I am much happier.

It was pretty hard for me to except my natural hair. My mother always said that my hair was unruly, and that the relaxers helped make my hair more manageable. I finally decided to go natural when I was up in college, because I wasn't able to have anyone relax my hair. So, I figured why not try to go natural! Almost 2 years later since that day and I'm so happy that I made the decision to embrace my naturals curls. I can truly see how healthy my hair has become. My one regret in life is ever getting a relaxer to begin with. But, I am now more appreciative of the hair I was born with. I no longer see my hair as a burden, but an extension of me. This is the hair I was born with, so why even attempt to change it!

Oh yeah, definitely the chemical burns. My scalp always burned; I was always crying.
I should thank the internet too. I never knew there was another option other than to relax. I had relaxers and weaves ever since I could remember. I used to think everyone was either relaxed or relaxed and weaved up. Just leaving my hair alone never crossed my mind...

Well I was always natural then I decided to get a texturizer just to try it and I hate it it's one of my biggest regrets and I am currently growing it out. Then my friend went curly and I was like wait I shouldn't use combs or brushes? And the rest is history.

When, after the worst relaxer ever, my hair began to literally melt off of my head in the shower trying to rinse that mess out. And after combing the hair that I had left on my head, my comb would be full of shed hair. My head looked like Baghdad on a good day. After that I waited 21 days, and then it was bye bye birdie. I cut all that mess off and started over as a natural.

My hair isn't even remotely close to 4 as I am a 2b but I do have a couple things that inspired me to go natural. I resisted having curly hair for 20 years, wearing it short and cropped (even buzzcut at times) but when I got to my early 30s I saw a few guys around me lose their hair so I thought, "I've lost some but still have a lot, maybe having curls isn't so bad." Started wearing it longer at age 33 (I'll be 41 next week) but went through a phase where I'd blowdry it and use a round styling brush to give it volume. However, as time went on I found it actually took more work trying to tame the curls than it did to let them do their thing.

Was it just your scalp that was burned (which is bad enough), or did that ish damage your hair too?

Originally Posted by Korkscrew

My scalp was burned and a huge portion of my hair 'melted' into my scalp. My hair fell out from the site of the burn leaving me with a palm-sized bald spot that thankfully regrew. I was so traumatized that I vowed never to get another 'relaxer' again.

When I gave up chemical relaxers, it was about 4 years ago. I just remember having the relaxer on and pushing myself to keep it on longer and longer because of my obsession with straight hair. Because of this, I ended up almost passing out from the fumes and my first encounter with relaxer scabs. It took me until a couple months ago to completely stop heat styling though, and I am almost through with my transition from heat damage. I can honestly say that since becoming natural I've never felt better and have never gotten more compliments on m hair before, and I don't intend on ever going back, besides the occassional heat styling